THE HANDLING OF THE PLANTS
There is a knack in the successful handling of plants that it is
impossible to describe in print. All persons can improve their practice
through diligent reading of useful gardening literature, but no amount
of reading and advice will make a good gardener of a person who does
not love to dig in a garden or who does not have a care for plants just
because they are plants.
To grow a plant well, one must learn its natural habits. Some persons
learn this as if by intuition, acquiring the knowledge from close
discrimination of the behavior of the plant. Often they are themselves
unconscious of this knack of knowing what will make the plant to
thrive; but it is not at all necessary to have such an intuitive
judgment to enable one to be even more than a fairly good gardener.
Diligent attention to the plant’s habits and requirements, and a real
regard for the plant’s welfare, will make any person a successful
plant-grower.
Some of the things that a person should know about any plant he would
grow are these:—
Whether the plant matures in the first, second, third, or subsequent
years; and when it naturally begins to fail.
The time of the year or season in which it normally grows, blooms, or
fruits; and whether it can be forced at other seasons.
Whether it prefers a situation dry or moist or wet, hot or cool, sunny
or shady.
Its preferences as to soil, whether very rich or only moderately rich,
sand or loam, or peat or clay.
Its hardiness as to frost, wind, drought, heat.
Whether it has any special requirements as to germination, and whether
it transplants well.
Whether it is specially liable to attack by insects or disease.
Whether it has a special inability to grow two years in succession on
the same land.
Having suited the situation to the plant, and having prepared the
ground well and made a resolution to keep it well, special attention
must be given to such matters as these:—
Guarding from all insects and diseases; and also from cats and chickens
and dogs; and likewise from rabbits and mice.
Protecting from weeds.
Pruning, in the case of fruit trees and bushes, and also of ornamental
woody plants on occasion, and sometimes even of annual herbs.
Staking and tying, particularly of sprawly garden flowers.
Persistent picking of seed pods or dead flowers from flower plants, in
order to conserve the strength of the plant and to prolong its season
of bloom.
Watering in dry weather (but not sprinkling or dribbling).
Thorough winter protecting of plants that need it.
Removing dead leaves, broken branches, weak and sickly plants, and
otherwise keeping the place tidy and trim.
_Sowing the seeds_.
Prepare the surface earth well, to make a good seed-bed. Plant when the
ground is moist, if possible, and preferably just before a rain if the
soil is of such character that it will not bake. For shallow-planted
seeds, firm the earth above them by walking over the row or by patting
it down with a hoe. Special care should be exercised not to sow very
small and slow-germinating seeds, as celery, carrot, onion, in poorly
prepared soil or in ground that bakes. With such seeds it is well to
sow seeds of radish or turnip, for these germinate quickly and break
the crust, and also mark the row so that tillage may be begun before
the regular-crop seeds are up.
Land may be prevented from baking over the seeds by scattering a very
thin layer of fine litter, as chaff, or of sifted moss or mold, over
the row. A board is sometimes laid on the row to retain the moisture,
but it must be lifted gradually just as soon as the plants begin to
break the ground, or the plants will be greatly injured. Whenever
practicable, seed-beds of celery and other slow-germinating seeds
should be shaded. If the beds are watered, be careful that the soil is
not packed by the force of the water or baked by the sun. In thickly
sown seed-beds, thin or transplant the plants as soon as they have made
their first true leaves.
For most home-grounds, seeds may be sown by hand, but for large areas
of one crop, one of the many kinds of seed-sowers may be used. The
particular methods of sowing seeds are usually specified in the seed
catalogues, if other than ordinary treatment is required. The
sled-markers (already described, p. 108) open a furrow of sufficient
depth for the planting of most seeds. If marker furrows are not
available, a furrow may be opened with a hoe for such deep-planted
seeds as peas and sweet peas, or by a trowel or end of a rakestale for
smaller seeds. In narrow beds or boxes, a stick or ruler (Fig. 115) may
be used for opening creases to receive the seeds.
The depth at which seeds are to be planted varies with the kind, the
soil and its preparation, the season, and whether they are planted in
the open or in the house. In boxes and under glass, it is a good rule
that the seed be sown at a depth equal to twice its own diameter, but
deeper sowing is usually necessary out of doors, particularly in hot
and dry weather. Strong and hardy seeds, as peas, sweet peas, large
fruit-tree seeds, may be planted three to six inches deep. Tender
seeds, that are injured by cold and wet, may be planted after the
ground is settled and warm at a greater depth than before that season.
As a rule, nothing is gained by sowing tender seeds before the weather
is thoroughly settled and the ground warm.
_Propagating by cuttings_.
Many common plants are propagated by cuttings rather than by seeds,
particularly when it is desired to increase a particular variety.
Cuttings are parts of plants inserted in soil or water with the
intention that they shall grow and make new plants. They are of various
kinds. They may be classified, with reference to the age of the wood or
tissue, into two classes; viz. those made from perfectly hard or
dormant wood (taken from the winter twigs of trees and bushes), and
those made from more or less immature or growing wood. They may be
classified again in respect to the part of the plants from which they
are taken, as root-cuttings, tuber-cuttings (as the ordinary “seed”
planted for potatoes), stem-cuttings, and leaf-cuttings.
Dormant stem-cuttings.
[Illustration: Fig. 122. The planting of the dormant-wood cuttings.]
Dormant-wood cuttings are used for grapes (Fig. 122), currants,
gooseberries, willows, poplars, and many other kinds of soft-wooded
trees and shrubs. Such cuttings are ordinarily taken in fall or winter,
but cut into the proper lengths and then buried in sand or moss where
they do not freeze, in order that the lower end may heal over or
callous. In the spring these cuttings are set in the ground, preferably
in a rather sandy and well-drained place.
[Illustration: Fig. 123. Carnation cutting.]
Usually, hardwood cuttings are made with two to four joints or buds,
and when they are planted, only the upper bud projects above the
ground. They may be planted erect, as Fig. 122 shows, or somewhat
slanting. In order that the cutting may reach down to moist earth, it
is desirable that it should not be less than 6 in. long; and it is
sometimes better if it is 8 to 12 in. If the wood is short-jointed,
there may be several buds on a cutting of this length; and in order to
prevent too many shoots from arising from these buds the lowermost buds
are often cut out. Roots will start as readily if the lower buds are
removed, since the buds grow into shoots and not into roots.
Cuttings of currants, grapes, gooseberries, and the like may be set in
rows that are far enough apart to admit of easy tillage either with
horse or hand tools, and the cuttings may be placed 3 to 8 in. apart in
the row. The English varieties of gooseberries, considerably grown in
this country, do not propagate readily from cuttings.
After the cuttings have grown one season, the plants are usually
transplanted and given more room for the second year’s growth, after
which time they are ready to be set in permanent plantations. In some
cases, the plants are set at the end of the first year; but two-year
plants are stronger and usually preferable.
Cuttings of roots.
Root-cuttings are used for blackberries, raspberries, and a few other
things. They are ordinarily made of roots from the size of a lead
pencil to one’s little finger, and are cut in lengths from 3 to 5 in.
long. The cuttings are stored the same as stem-cuttings and allowed to
callous. In the spring they are planted in a horizontal or nearly
horizontal position in moist sandy soil, being entirely covered to a
depth of 1 or 2 in.
Green cuttings.
[Illustration: Fig. 124. Verbena cutting.]
Softwood or greenwood cuttings are usually made of wood that is mature
enough to break when it is bent sharply. When the wood is so soft that
it will bend and not break, it is too immature, in the majority of
plants, for the making of good cuttings.
[Illustration: Fig. 125. Leaf-cutting.]
One to two joints is the proper length of a greenwood cutting. If of
two joints, the lower leaves should be cut off and the upper leaves cut
in two so that they do not present their entire surface to the air and
thereby evaporate the plant juices too rapidly. If the cutting is of
only one joint, the lower end is usually cut just above a joint. In
either case, the cuttings are usually inserted in sand or well-washed
gravel, nearly or quite up to the leaves. Keep the bed uniformly moist
throughout its depth, but avoid any soil which holds so much moisture
that it becomes muddy and sour. These cuttings should be shaded until
they begin to emit their roots. Coleus, geraniums, fuchsias,
carnations, and nearly all the common greenhouse and house plants, are
propagated by these cuttings or slips (Figs. 123, 124).
Cuttings of leaves.
Leaf-cuttings are often used for the fancy-leaved begonias, gloxinias,
and a few other plants. The young plant usually arises most readily
from the leaf-stalk or petiole. The leaf, therefore, is inserted into
the ground much as a green cutting is. Begonia leaves will throw out
young plants from the main ribs when these veins or ribs are cut.
Therefore, well-grown and firm begonia leaves are sometimes laid flat
on the sand and the main veins cut; then the leaf is weighted down with
pebbles or pegs so that these cut surfaces come into intimate contact
with the soil beneath. The usual way, however, is to cut a triangular
piece of the leaf (Fig. 125) and insert the tip in sand. So long as the
cutting is alive, do not be discouraged, even if it do not start.
VIII. A well-planted entrance. Common trees and bushes, with Boston ivy
on the post, and _Berberis Thunbergii_ in front. VIII. A well-planted
entrance. Common trees and bushes, with Boston ivy on the post, and
_Berberis Thunbergii_ in front.
General treatment of cuttings.
In the growing of all greenwood and leaf-cuttings, it is well to
remember that they should have a gentle bottom heat; the soil should be
such that it will hold moisture and yet not remain wet; the air about
the tops should not become close and stagnant, else the plants will
damp off; and the tops should be shaded for a time. In order to control
all the conditions, such cuttings are grown under cover, as in a
greenhouse, coldframe, or a box in the residence window.
[Illustration: Fig. 126. Cuttings inserted in a double pot.]
An excellent method of starting cuttings in the living room is to make
a double pot, as shown in Fig. 126. Inside a 6-in. pot set a 4-in. pot.
Fill the bottom, _a_, with gravel or bits of brick, for drainage. Plug
the hole in the inside pot. Fill the spaces between, _c_, with earth,
and in this set the cuttings. Water may be poured into the inner pot,
_b_, to supply the moisture.
_Transplanting young seedlings_.
[Illustration: Fig. 127. To check evaporation at transplanting.]
In the transplanting of cabbages, tomatoes, flowers, and all plants
recently started from seeds, it is important that the ground be
thoroughly fined and compacted. Plants usually live better if
transplanted into ground that has been freshly turned. If possible,
transplant in cloudy or rainy weather, particularly if late in the
season. Firm the earth snugly about the roots with the hands or feet,
in order to bring up the soil moisture; but it is generally best to
rake the surface in order to reëstablish the earth-mulch, unless the
plants are so small that their roots cannot reach through the mulch (p.
98).
If the plants are taken from pots, water the pots some time in advance,
and the ball of earth will fall out when the pot is inverted and tapped
lightly. In taking up plants from the ground, it is advisable, also, to
water them well some time before removing; the earth may then be held
on the roots. See that the watering is done far enough in advance to
allow the water to settle away and distribute itself; the earth should
not be muddy when the plants are removed.
[Illustration: Fig. 128. Plants sheared and not sheared when
transplanted.]
In order to reduce the evaporation from the plant, shingles may be
stuck into the ground to shade the plant; or a screen may be improvised
with pieces of paper (Fig. 122), tin cans, inverted flower-pots,
coverings of brush, or other means.
[Illustration: Fig. 129. Where to shear the tops of young plants.]
It is nearly always advisable to remove some of the foliage,
particularly if the plant has several leaves and if it has not been
grown in a pot, and also if the transplanting is done in warm weather.
Figure 128 shows a good treatment for transplanted plants. With the
foliage all left on, the plants are likely to behave as in the upper
row; but with most of it cut off, as in the lower row, there is little
wilting, and new leaves soon start. Figure 129 also shows what part of
the leaves may be cut off on transplanting. If the ground is freshly
turned and the transplanting is well done, it rarely will be necessary
to water the plants; but if watering is necessary, it should be done at
nightfall, and the surface should be loosened the next morning or as
soon as it becomes dry.
[Illustration: Fig. 130. Trowel dibber.]
[Illustration: Fig. 131. The dibber.]
[Illustration: Fig. 132. Home-made padded dibber.]
[Illustration: Fig. 133. Dibber and crow-bar combined.]
In the transplanting of young plants, some kind of a dibber should be
used to make the holes. Dibbers make holes without removing any of the
earth. A good form of dibber is shown in Fig. 130, which is like a flat
or plane trowel. Many persons prefer a cylindrical and conical dibber,
like that shown in Fig. 131. For hard soils and larger plants, a strong
dibber may be made from a limb that has a right-angled branch to serve
as a handle. This handle may be softened by slipping a piece of rubber
hose on it (Fig. 132). A long iron dibber, which may also be used as a
crow-bar, is shown in Fig. 133. In transplanting with the dibber, a
hole is first made by a thrust of the tool, and the earth is then
pressed against the root by means of the foot, hand, or the dibber
itself (as in Fig. 131). The hole is not filled by putting in dirt at
the top.
[Illustration: Fig. 134. Strawberry planter.]
For large plants, a broader dibber may be used. An implement like that
shown in Fig. 134 is useful for setting strawberries and other plants
with large roots. It is made of two-inch plank, with a block on top to
act as foot-rest and to prevent the blade from going too deep. In order
to provide space for the foot and easily to direct the thrust, the
handle may be placed at one side of the middle. For plunging pots, a
dibber like that shown in Fig. 135 is useful, particularly when the
soil is so hard that a long-pointed tool is necessary. The bottom of
the hole may be filled with earth before the pot is inserted; but it is
often advisable to leave the vacant space below (as in _b_) to provide
drainage, to keep the plant from rooting, and to prevent earth-worms
from entering the hole in the bottom of the pot. For smaller pots, the
tool may be inserted a less depth (as at _c_).
[Illustration: Fig. 135. The plunging of pots.]
_Transplanting established plants and trees_.
[Illustration: Fig. 136. Setting large tub-plants in the lawn.]
In setting potted plants out of doors, it is nearly always advisable to
plunge them,—that is to set the pots into the earth,—unless the place
is very wet. The pots are then watered by the rainfall, and demand
little care. If the plants are to be returned to the house in the fall,
they should not be allowed to root through the hole in the pot, and the
rooting may be prevented by turning the pot around every few days.
Large decorative plants may be made to look as if growing naturally in
the lawn by sinking the pot or box just below the surface and rolling
the sod over it, as suggested in Fig. 136. A space around and below the
tub may be provided to insure drainage.
Tub-plants.
[Illustration: Fig. 137. Plant-box with a movable side.]
For the shifting of very large tub-plants, a box or tub with movable
sides, as in Fig. 137, is handy and efficient. The plant-box
recommended to parties who grew plants for exhibition at the World’s
Fair is shown in Fig. 138. It is made of strong boards or planks. At A
is shown the inside of one of two opposite sections or sides, four feet
wide at top, three feet wide at bottom, and three feet high. The cleats
are two-by-four scantlings, through which holes are bored to admit the
bolts with which the box is to be held together. B is an outside view
of one of the alternating sections, three feet four inches wide at top,
two feet four inches at bottom, and three feet deep. A one-by-six strip
is nailed through the center to give strength. C is an end view of A,
showing the bolts and also a two-by-four cleat to which the bottom is
to be nailed. This box was used mostly for transporting large growing
stock to the exposition, the stock having been dug from the open and
the box secured around the ball of earth.
[Illustration: Fig. 138. Box for transporting large transplanted
stock.]
When to transplant.
In general, it is best to set hardy plants in the fall, particularly if
the ground is fairly dry and the exposure is not too bleak. To this
class belong most of the fruit trees and ornamental trees and shrubs;
also hardy herbs, as columbines, peonies, lilies, bleeding-hearts, and
the like. They should be planted as soon as they are thoroughly mature,
so that the leaves begin to fall naturally. If any leaves remain on the
tree or bush at planting time, strip them off, unless the plant is an
evergreen. It is generally best not to cut back fall-planted trees to
the full extent desired, but to shorten them three-fourths of the
required amount in the fall, and take off the remaining fourth in the
spring, so that no dead or dry tips are left on the plant. Evergreens,
as pines and spruces, are not headed-in much, and usually not at all.
All tender and very small plants should be set in the spring, in which
case very early planting is desirable; and spring planting is always to
be advised when the ground is not thoroughly drained and well prepared.
Depth to transplant.
In well-compacted land, trees and shrubs should be set at about the
same depth as they stood in the nursery, but if the land has been
deeply trenched or if it is loose from other causes, the plants should
be set deeper, because the earth will probably settle. The hole should
be filled with fine surface earth. It is generally not advisable to
place manure in the hole, but if it is used, it should be of small
amount and very thoroughly mixed with the earth, else it will cause the
soil to dry out. In lawns and other places where surface tillage cannot
be given, a light mulch of litter or manure may be placed about the
plants; but the earth-mulch (page 98), when it can be secured, is much
the best conserver of moisture.
Making the rows straight.
[Illustration: Fig. 139. A planting board.]
In order to set trees in rows, it is necessary to use a garden line
(Fig. 96), or to mark out the ground with some of the devices already
described (Figs. 113-120); or in large areas, the place may be staked
out. In planting orchards, the area is laid out (preferably by a
surveyor) with two or more rows of stakes so placed that a man may
sight from one fixed point to another. Two or three men work to best
advantage in such planting.
[Illustration: Fig. 140. Device for placing the tree.]
There are various devices for locating the place of the stake after the
stake has been removed and the hole dug, in case the area is not
regularly staked out in such a way that sighting across the area may be
employed. One of the simplest is shown in Fig. 139. It is a narrow and
thin board with a notch in the center and a peg in either end, one of
the pegs being stationary. The implement is so placed that the notch
meets the stake, then one end of it is thrown out of the way until the
hole is dug. When the implement is brought again to its original
position, the notch mark’s the place of the stake and the tree. Figure
140 is a device with a lid, in the end of which is a notch to mark the
place of the stake. This lid is thrown back, as shown by the dotted
lines, when the hole is being dug. Figure 141 shows a method of
bringing trees in row by measuring from a line.
[Illustration: Fig. 141. Lining a tree from a stake.]
Cutting-back; filling.
In the planting of any tree or bush, the roots should be cut back
beyond all breaks and serious bruises, and fine earth should be
thoroughly filled in and firmed about them, as in Fig. 142. No
implement is so good as the fingers for working the soil about the
roots. If the tree has many roots, work it up and down slightly several
times during the filling of the hole, to settle the earth in place.
When the earth is thrown in carelessly, the roots are jammed together,
and often an empty place is left beneath the crown, as in Fig. 143,
which causes the roots to dry out.
[Illustration: Fig. 142: Proper planting of a tree.]
[Illustration: Fig. 143: Careless planting of a tree.]
[Illustration: Fig. 144. Pruned young tree.] [Illustration: Fig. 145.
Pruned young tree.]
The marks on the tops of these trees in Figs. 142 and 143 show where
the branches may be cut. See also Fig. 152. Figures 144 and 145 show
the tops of trees after pruning. Strong branchy trees, as apples,
pears, and ornamental trees, are usually headed back in this way, upon
planting. If the tree has one straight leader and many or several
slender branches (Fig. 146), it is usually pruned, as in Fig. 147, each
branch being cut back to one or two buds. If there are no branches, or
very few of them,—in which case there will be good buds upon the main
stem,—the leader may be cut back a third or half its length, to a mere
whip. Ornamental bushes with long tops are usually cut back a third or
a half when set, as shown in Fig. 45.
Always leave a little of the small bud-making growth. The practice of
cutting back shade trees to mere long clubs, or poles, with no small
twigs, is to be discouraged. The tree in such case is obliged to force
out adventitious buds from the old wood, and it may not have vigor
enough to do this; and the process may be so long delayed as to allow
the tree to be overtaken by drought before it gets a start.
Removing very large trees.
[Illustration: Fig. 146: Peach tree.] [Illustration: Fig. 147: Peach
tree pruned for planting.]
Very large trees can often be moved with safety. It is essential that
the transplanting be done when the trees are perfectly dormant,—winter
being preferable,—that a large mass of earth and roots be taken with
the tree, and that the top be vigorously cut back. Large trees are
often moved in winter on a stone-boat, by securing a large ball of
earth frozen about the roots. This frozen ball is secured by digging
about the tree for several days in succession, so that the freezing
progresses with the excavation. A good device for moving such trees is
shown in Fig. 148. The trunk of the tree is securely wrapped with
burlaps or other soft material, and a ring or chain is then secured
about it. A long pole, _b_, is run over the truck of a wagon and the
end of it is secured to the chain or ring upon the tree. This pole is a
lever for raising the tree out of the ground. A team is hitched at _a_,
and a man holds the pole _b_. Other and more elaborate devices are in
use, but this explains the idea and is therefore sufficient for the
present purpose; for when a person desires to remove a very large tree
he should secure the services of an expert.
[Illustration: Fig. 148: Moving a large tree.]
The following more explicit directions for moving large trees are by
Edward Hicks, who has had much experience in the business, and who made
this report to the press a few years ago: “In moving large trees, say
those ten to twelve inches in diameter and twenty-five to thirty feet
high, it is well to prepare them by trimming and cutting or sawing off
the roots at a proper distance from the trunks, say six to eight feet,
in June. The cut roots heal over and send out fibrous roots, which
should not be injured more than is necessary in moving the trees next
fall or spring. Young, thrifty maples and elms, originally from the
nursery, do not need such preparation nearly as much as other and older
trees. In moving a tree, we begin by digging a wide trench six to eight
feet from it, leaving all possible roots fast to it. By digging under
the tree in the wide trench, and working the soil out of the roots by
means of round or dull-pointed sticks, the soil falls into the cavity
made under the tree. Three or four men in as many hours could get so
much of the soil away from the roots that it would be safe to attach a
rope and tackle to the upper part of the trunk and to some adjoining
post or tree for the purpose of pulling the tree over. A good quantity
of bagging must be put around the tree under the rope to prevent
injury, and care should be taken that the pulling of the rope does not
split off or break a limb. A team is hitched to the end of the draft
rope, and slowly driven in the proper direction to pull the tree over.
If the tree does not readily tip over, dig under and cut off any fast
root. While it is tipped over, work out more of the soil with the
sticks. Now pass a large rope, double, around a few large roots close
to the tree, leaving the ends of the rope turned up by the trunk to be
used in lifting the tree at the proper time. Tip the tree in the
opposite direction and put another large rope around the large roots
close to the trunk; remove more soil and see that no roots are fast to
the ground. Four guy-ropes attached to the upper parts of the tree, as
shown in the cut (Fig. 149), should be put on properly and used to
prevent the tree from tipping over too far as well as to keep it
upright. A good deal of the soil can be put back in the hole without
covering the roots to get it out of the way of the machine. The latter
can now be placed about the tree by removing the front part, fastened
by four bolts, placing the frame with the hind wheels around the tree
and replacing the front parts. Two timbers, three-by-nine inches, and
twenty feet long, are now placed on the ground under the hind wheels,
and in front of them, parallel to each other for the purpose of keeping
the hind wheels up out of the big hole when drawing the tree away; and
they are also used while backing the hind wheels across the new hole in
which the tree is to be planted. The machine (Figs. 149, 150) consists
of a hind axle twelve feet long, and broad-tired wheels. The frame is
made of spruce three-by-eight inches and twenty feet long. The braces
are three-by-five inches and ten feet long, and upright three-by-nine
inches and three feet high; these are bolted to the hind axle and main
frame. The front axle has a set of blocks bolted together and of
sufficient height to support the front end of the frame. Into the top
timbers, three-by-six inches, hollows are cut at the proper distances
to receive the ends of two locust rollers. A windlass or winch is put
at each end of the frame, by which trees can easily and steadily be
lifted and lowered, the large double ropes passing over the rollers to
the windlasses. A locust boom is put across the machine under the frame
and above the braces; iron pins hold it in place. The side guy-ropes
are made fast to the ends of this boom. The other guy-ropes are made
fast to the front and rear parts of the machine. Four rope loops are
made fast inside of the frame, and are so placed that by passing a rope
around the trunk of the tree and through the loops two or three times,
a rope ring is made around the tree that will keep the trunk in the
middle of the frame and not allow it to hit either the edges or the
rollers—a very necessary safeguard. As the tree is slowly lifted by the
windlasses, the guy-ropes are loosened, as needed. The tree will pass
obstructions, such as trees by the roadside, but in doing so it is
better to lean the tree backward. When the tree has arrived at its new
place, the two timbers are placed along the opposite edges of the hole
so that the hind wheels can be backed over it. The tree is then lowered
to the proper depth, and made plumb by the guy-ropes, and good, mellow
soil is thrown in and packed well into all the cavities under the
roots. When the hole is half filled, several barrels of water should be
poured in; this will wash the soil into the cavities under the center
of the tree much better. When the water has settled away, fill in and
pack the soil till the hole is little more than full. Leave a
depression, so that all the rain that may fall will be retained. The
tree should now be judiciously trimmed and the machine removed. Five
men can take up, move, and plant a tree in a day, if the distance is
short and the digging not too hard. The tree should be properly wired
to stakes to prevent the wind from blowing it over. The front part of
the machine is a part of our platform spring market-wagon, while the
hind wheels are from a wood-axle wagon. A tree ten inches in diameter,
with some dirt adhering to its roots, will weigh a ton or more.”
[Illustration: Fig. 149. The tree ready to lift.]
[Illustration: 150. The tree ready to move.]
_Winter protection of plants_.
[Illustration: Fig. 151. Trees heeled-in for winter.]
If the ground is not ready for planting in the fall, or if it is
desired for any reason to delay until spring, the trees or bushes may
be heeled-in, as illustrated in Fig. 151. The roots are laid in a
furrow or trench, and are covered with well-firmed earth. Straw or
manure may be thrown over the earth still further to protect the roots,
but if it is thrown over the tops, mice may be attracted by it and the
trees be girdled. Tender trees or bushes may be lightly covered to the
tips with earth. Plants should be heeled-in only in loose, warm, loamy
or sandy ground and in a well-drained place.
[Illustration: Fig. 152. Tree earthed up for winter.]
Fall-planted trees should generally be mounded up, sometimes even as
high as shown in Fig. 152. This hilling holds the plant in position,
carries off the water, prevents too deep freezing, and holds the earth
from heaving. The mound is taken away in the spring. It is sometimes
advisable to mound-up established trees in the fall, but on
well-drained land the practice is usually not necessary. In hilling
trees, pains should be taken not to leave deep holes, from which the
earth was dug, close to the tree, for water collects in them. Roses and
many other bushes may be mounded in the fall with profit.
It is always advisable to mulch plants that are set in the fall. Any
loose and dry material—as straw, manure, leaves, leafmold, litter from
yards and stables, pine boughs—may be used for this purpose. Very
strong or compact manures, as those in which there is little straw or
litter, should be avoided. The ground may be covered to a depth of five
or six inches, or even a foot or more if the material is loose. Avoid
throwing strong manure directly on the crown of the plants, especially
of herbs, for the materials that leach from the manure sometimes injure
the crown buds and the roots.
This protection may also be given to established plants, particularly
to those which, like roses and herbaceous plants, are expected to give
a profusion of bloom the following year. This mulch affords not only
winter protection, but is an efficient means of fertilizing the land. A
large part of the plant-food materials have leached out of the mulch by
spring, and have become incorporated in the soil, where the plant makes
ready use of them.
[Illustration: Fig. 153: Covering plants in a box.]
Mulches also serve a most useful purpose in preventing the ground from
packing and baking by the weight of snows and rains, and the cementing
action of too much water in the surface soil. In the spring, the
coarser parts of the mulch may be removed, and the finer parts spaded
or hoed into the ground.
[Illustration: Fig. 154: Covering plants in a barrel.]
Tender bushes and small trees may be wrapped with straw, hay, burlaps,
or pieces of matting or carpet. Even rather large trees, as bearing
peach trees, are often baled up in this way, or sometimes with corn
fodder, although the results in the protection of fruit-buds are not
often very satisfactory. It is important that no grain is left in the
baling material, else mice may be attracted to it. (The danger of
gnawing by mice that nest in winter coverings is always to be
anticipated.) It should be known, too, that the object in tying up or
baling plants is not so much to protect from direct cold as to mitigate
the effects of alternate freezing and thawing, and to protect from
drying winds. Plants may be wrapped so thick and tight as to injure
them.
The labor of protecting large plants is often great and the results
uncertain, and in most cases it is a question whether more satisfaction
could not be attained by growing only hardy trees and shrubs.
The objection to covering tender woody plants cannot be urged with
equal force against tender herbs or very low bushes, for these are
protected with ease. Even the ordinary mulch may afford sufficient
protection; and if the tops kill back, the plant quickly renews itself
from near the base, and in many plants—as in most hybrid perpetual
roses—the best bloom is on these new growths of the season. Old boxes
or barrels may be used to protect tender low plants (Figs. 153, 154).
The box is filled with leaves or dry straw and either left open on top
or covered with boards, boughs, or even with burlaps (Fig. 154).
Connoisseurs of tender roses and other plants sometimes go to the pains
of erecting a collapsible shed over the bush, and filling with leaves
or straw. Whether this is worth while depends wholly on the degree of
satisfaction that one derives from the growing of choice plants (see
_Roses_, in Chap. VIII).
[Illustration: Fig. 155. Laying down of trellis-grown blackberries.]
The tops of plants may be laid down for the winter. Figure 155 shows a
method of laying down blackberries, as practiced in the Hudson River
valley. The plants were tied to a trellis, as the method is in that
country, two wires (_a, b_) having been run on either side of the row.
The posts are hinged on a pivot to a short post (_c_), and are held in
position by a brace (_d_). The entire trellis is then laid down on the
approach of winter, as shown in the illustration. The blackberry tops
are so strong that they hold the wires up from the ground, even when
the trellis is laid down. To hold the wires close to the earth, stakes
are thrust over them in a slanting position, as shown at _n n_. The
snow that drifts through the plants ordinarily affords sufficient
protection for plants which are as hardy as grapes and berries. In
fact, the species may be uninjured even without cover, since, in their
prostrate position, they escape the cold and drying winds.
In severe climates, or in the case of tender plants, the tops should be
covered with straw, boughs, or litter, as recommended for regular
mulch-covers. Sometimes a V-shaped trough made from two boards is
placed over the stems of long or vine-like plants that have been laid
down. All plants with slender or more or less pliant stems can be laid
down with ease. With such protection, figs can be grown in the northern
states. Peach and other fruit trees may be so trained as to be tipped
over and covered.
Laid-down plants are often injured if the covering remains too late in
the spring. The ground warms up early, and may start the buds on parts
of the buried plants, and these tender buds may be broken when the
plants are raised, or injured by sun, wind, or frost. The plants should
be raised while the wood and buds are still hard and dormant.
_Pruning_.
Pruning is necessary to keep plants in shape, to make them more
floriferous and fruitful, and to hold them within bounds.
Even annual plants often may be pruned to advantage. This is true of
tomatoes, from which the superfluous or crowding shoots may be removed,
especially if the land is so rich that they grow very luxuriantly;
sometimes they are trained to a single stem and most of the side shoots
are taken away as they appear. If plants of marigold, gaillardia, or
other strong and spreading growers are held by stakes or wire-holders
(a good practice), it may be advisable to remove the weak and sprawling
shoots. Balsams give better results when side shoots are taken off. The
removing of the old flowers, which is to be advised with flower-garden
plants (page 116), is also a species of pruning.
Distinction should be made between pruning and shearing. Plants are
sheared into given shapes. This may be necessary in bedding-plants, and
occasionally when a formal effect is desired in shrubs and trees; but
the best taste is displayed, in the vast majority of cases, in allowing
the plants to assume their natural habits, merely keeping them shapely,
cutting out old or dead wood, and, in some cases, preventing such
crowding of shoots as will reduce the size of the bloom. The common
practice of shearing shrubbery is very much to be reprehended; this
subject is discussed from another point of view on page 24.
The pruner should know the flower-bearing habit of the plant that he
prunes,—whether the bloom is on the shoots of last season or on the new
wood of the present season, and whether the flower-buds of
spring-blooming plants are separate from the leaf-buds. A very little
careful observation will determine these points for any plant. (1) The
spring-blooming woody plants usually produce their flowers from buds
perfected the fall before and remaining dormant over winter. This is
true of most fruit-trees, and such shrubs as lilac, forsythia, tree
peony, wistaria, some spireas and viburnums, weigela, deutzia. Cutting
back the shoots of these plants early in spring or late in fall,
therefore, removes the bloom. The proper time to prune such plants
(unless one intends to reduce or thin the bloom) is just after the
flowering season. (2) The summer-blooming woody plants usually produce
their flowers on shoots that grow early in the same season. This is
true of grapes, quince, hybrid perpetual roses, shrubby hibiscus, crape
myrtle, mock orange, hydrangea (paniculata), and others. Pruning in
winter or early spring to secure strong new shoots is, therefore, the
proper procedure in these cases.
Remarks on pruning may be found under the discussion of roses and other
plants in subsequent chapters, when the plants need any special or
peculiar attention.
Fruit-trees and shade-trees are usually pruned in winter, preferably
late in winter, or in very early spring. However, there is usually no
objection to moderate pruning at any time of the year; and moderate
pruning every year, rather than violent pruning in occasional years, is
to be advised. It is an old idea that summer pruning tends to favor the
production of fruit-buds and therefore to make for fruitfulness; there
is undoubtedly truth in this, but it must be remembered that
fruitfulness is not the result of one treatment or condition, but of
all the conditions under which the plant lives.
All limbs should be removed close to the branch or trunk from which
they arise, and the surface of the wound should be practically parallel
with such branch or trunk, rather than to be cut back to stubs. The
stubs do not heal readily.
All wounds much above an inch across may be protected by a coat of good
linseed-oil paint; but smaller wounds, if the tree is vigorous, usually
require no protection. The object of the paint is to protect the wound
from cracking and decay until the healing tissue covers it.
Superfluous and interfering branches should be removed from
fruit-trees, so that the top will be fairly open to sun and to the
pickers. Well-pruned trees allow of an even distribution and uniform
development of the fruit. Watersprouts and suckers should be removed as
soon as they are discovered. How open the top may be, will depend on
the climate. In the West, open trees suffer from sun-scald.
The fruit-bearing habit of the fruit-tree must be considered in the
pruning. The pruner should be able to distinguish fruit-buds from
leaf-buds in such species as cherries, plums, apricot, peach, pear,
apple, and so prune as to spare these buds or to thin them
understandingly. The fruit-buds are distinguished by their position on
the tree and by their size and shape. They may be on distinct “spurs”
or short branches, in all the above fruits; or, as in the peach, they
may be chiefly lateral on the new shoots (in the peach, the fruit-buds
are usually two at a node and with a leaf-bud between them), or, as
sometimes in apples and pears, they may be at the ends of last year’s
growths. Fruit-buds are usually thicker, or “fatter,” than leaf-buds,
and often fuzzy. Heading-back the tree of course tends to concentrate
the fruit-buds and to keep them nearer the center of the tree-top; but
heading-back must be combined with intelligent saving and thinning of
the interior shoots. Heading-back of pears and peaches and plums is
usually a very desirable practice.
_Tree surgery and protection_.
Aside from the regular pruning to develop the tree into its best form
to enable it to do its best work, there are wounds and malformations to
be treated. Recently, the treating of injured and decayed trees has
received much attention, and “tree doctors” and “tree surgeons” have
engaged in the business. If there are quacks among these people, there
are also competent and reliable men who are doing useful service in
saving and prolonging the life of trees; one should choose a tree
doctor with the same care that he would choose any other doctor. The
liability of injury to street trees in the modern city and the
increasing regard for trees, render the services of good experts
increasingly necessary.
Street trees are injured by many causes: as, starving because of poor
soil and lack of water under pavements; smoke and dust; leakage from
gas mains and from electric installation; gnawing by horses; butchering
by persons stringing wires; carelessness of contractors and builders;
wind and ice storms; overcrowding; and the blundering work of persons
who think that they know how to prune. Well-enforced municipal
regulations should be able to control most of these troubles.
Tree guards.
[Illustration: Fig. 156. Lath tree guard.] [Illustration: Fig. 157.
Wire-and-post tree guard]
Along roadsides and other exposed places it is often necessary to
protect newly set trees from horses, boys, and vehicles. There are
various kinds of tree guards for this purpose. The best types are those
that are more or less open, so as to allow the free passage of air and
which are so far removed from the body of the tree that its trunk may
expand without difficulty. If the guards are very tight, they may shade
the trunk so much that the tree may suffer when the guard is removed,
and they prevent the discovery of insects and injuries. It is important
that the guard does not fill with litter in which insects may harbor.
As soon as the tree is old enough to escape injury, the guards should
be removed. A very good guard, made of laths held together with three
strips of band-iron, and secured to iron posts, is shown in Fig. 156.
Figure 157. shows a guard made by winding fencing wire upon three posts
or stakes. When there is likely to be danger from too great shading of
the trunk, this latter form of guard is one of the best. There are good
forms of tree guards on the market. Of course hitching-posts should be
provided, wherever horses are to stand, to remove the temptation of
hitching to trees. Figure 158, however, shows a very good device when a
hitching post is not wanted. A strong stick, four or five feet long, is
secured to the tree by a staple and at the lower end of the stick is a
short chain with a snap in the end. The snap is secured to the bridle,
and the horse is not able to reach the tree.
[Illustration: Fig 158. How a horse may be hitched to a tree.]
Mice and rabbits.
Trees and bushes are often seriously injured by the gnawing of mice and
rabbits. The best preventive is not to have the vermin. If there are no
places in which rabbits and mice can burrow and breed, there will be
little difficulty. At the approach of winter, if mice are feared, the
dry litter should be removed from about the trees, or it should be
packed down very firm, so that the mice cannot nest in it. If the
rodents are very abundant, it may be advisable to wrap fine wire
netting about the base of the tree. A boy who is fond of trapping or
hunting will ordinarily solve the rabbit difficulty. Rags tied on
sticks which are placed at intervals about the plantation will often
frighten rabbits away.
Girdled trees.
[Illustration: Fig. 159. Bridge-grafting a girdle.]
Trees that are girdled by mice should be wrapped up as soon as
discovered, so that the wood shall not become too dry. When warm
weather approaches, shave off the edges of the girdle so that the
healing tissue may grow freely, smear the whole surface with
grafting-wax, or with clay, and bind the whole wound with strong
cloths. Even though the tree is completely girdled for a distance of
three or four inches, it usually may be saved by this treatment, unless
the injury extends into the wood. The water from the roots rises
through the soft wood and not between the bark and the wood, as
commonly supposed. When this sap water has reached the foliage, it
takes part in the elaboration of plant-food, and this food is
distributed throughout the plant, the path of transfer being in the
inner layers of bark. This food material, being distributed back to the
girdle, will generally heal over the wound if the wood is not allowed
to become dry.
In some cases, however, it is necessary to join the bark above and
below the girdle by means of cions, which are whittled to a wedge-shape
on either end, and inserted underneath the two edges of the bark (Fig.
159). The ends of the cions and the edges of the wound are held by a
bandage of cloth, and the whole work is protected by melted
grafting-wax poured upon it. [Footnote: A good grafting-wax is made as
follows: Into a kettle place one part by weight of tallow, two parts of
beeswax, four parts of rosin. When completely melted, pour into a tub
or pail of cold water, then work it with the hands (which should be
greased) until it develops a grain and becomes the color of taffy
candy. The whole question of the propagation of plants is discussed in
“The Nursery-Book.”]
Repairing street trees.
[Illustration: Fig. 161. A wound, made by freezing, trimmed out and
filled with cement.]
The following advice on “tree surgery” is by A.D. Taylor (Bulletin 256,
Cornell University, from which the accompanying illustrations are
adapted):—
“Tree surgery includes the intelligent protection of all mechanical
injuries and cavities. Pruning requires a previous intimate knowledge
of the habits of growth of trees; surgery, on the other hand, requires
in addition a knowledge of the best methods for making cavities
air-tight and preventing decay. The filling of cavities in trees has
not been practiced sufficiently long to warrant making a definite
statement as to the permanent success or failure of the operation; the
work is still in an experimental stage. The caring for cavities in
trees must be urged as the only means of preserving affected specimens,
and the preservation of many noble specimens has been at least
temporarily assured through the efforts of those practicing this kind
of work.
[Illustration: Fig. 160. A cement-filled cavity at the base of a tree.]
“Successful operation depends on two important factors: first, that all
decayed parts of the cavity be wholly removed and the exposed surface
thoroughly washed with an antiseptic; second, that the cavity, when
filled, must be air tight and hermetically sealed if possible. Trees
are treated as follows: The cavity is thoroughly cleaned by removing
all decayed wood and washing the interior surface with a solution of
copper sulfate and lime, in order to destroy any fungi that may remain.
The edges of the cavity are cut smooth in order to allow free growth of
the cambium after the cavity is filled. Any antiseptic, such as
corrosive sublimate, creosote, or even paint, may answer the purpose;
creosote, however, possesses the most penetrating powers of any. The
method of filling the cavities depends to a great extent on their size
and form. Very large cavities with great openings are generally bricked
on the outside, over the opening, and filled on the inside with
concrete, the brick serving the purpose of a retaining wall to hold the
concrete in place. Concrete used for the main filling is usually made
in the proportion of one part good Portland cement, two parts sand, and
four parts crushed stone, the consistency of the mixture being such
that it may be poured into the cavity and require little or no tamping
to make the mass solid. (Fig. 160.)
“Fillings thus made are considered by expert tree surgeons to be a
permanent preventive of decay. The outside of the filling is always
coated with a thin covering of concrete, consisting of one part cement
to two parts fine sand. Cavities resulting from freezing, and which,
though large on the inside, show only a long narrow crack on the
outside, are most easily filled by placing a form against the entire
length of the opening, having a space at the top through which the
cement may be poured (Fig. 161). Another method of retaining the
concrete is to reinforce it from the outside by driving rows of spikes
along the inner surface of either side of the cavity and lacing a stout
wire across the face of the cavity. For best results, all fillings must
come flush with the inner bark when finished. During the first year,
this growing tissue will spread over the outer edge of the filling,
thus forming an hermetically sealed cavity. In the course of time, the
outside of small or narrow openings should be completely covered with
tissue, which buries the filling from view.
[Illustration: Fig. 162. Bridge-grafting or in-arching from saplings
planted about the tree.]
“It has been found that there is a tendency for portland cement to
contract from the wood after it dries, leaving a space between the wood
and the cement through which water and germs of decay may enter. A
remedy for this defect has been suggested in the use of a thick coat of
tar, or an elastic cement which might be spread over the surface of the
cavity before filling. The cracking of portland cement on the surface
of long cavities is caused by the swaying of trees during heavy storms,
and should not occur if the filling is correctly done.
[Illustration: Fig. 163. Faulty methods of bracing a crotched tree. The
lower method is wholly wrong. The upper method is good if the
bolt-heads are properly counter-sunk and the bolts tightly fitted; but
if the distance between the branches is great, it is better to have two
bolts and join them by hooks, to allow of wind movements.]
“In addition to the preservation of decayed specimens by filling the
cavities, as above outlined, it has been proposed to strengthen the
tree by treating it as shown in Fig. 162. Young saplings of the same
species, after having become established as shown, are grafted by
approach to the mature specimen.
“Injury frequently results from error in the method of attempting to
save broken, or to strengthen and support weak branches that are
otherwise healthy. The means used for supporting cracked, wind-racked,
and overladen branches which show a tendency to split at the forks are
bolting and chaining. The practice of placing iron bands around large
branches in order to protect them has resulted in much harm; as the
tree grows and expands, such bands tighten, causing the bark to be
broken and resulting after a few years in a partial girdling (Fig.
163).
[Illustration: Fig. 164. Trees ruined to allow of the passage of
wires.]
[Illustration: Fig. 165. Accommodating a wall to a valuable tree.]
[Illustration: Fig. 166. The death of a long stub.]
[Illustration: Fig. 167. Bungling pruning.] [Illustration: Fig. 168.
The proper way to saw off a large limb. A cut is first made on the
under side to prevent splitting down; then it is cut on the upper side.
Then the entire “stub” is removed close to the trunk.]
“To bolt a tree correctly is comparatively inexpensive. The safest
method consists in passing a strong bolt through a hole bored in the
branch for this purpose, and fastening it on the outside by means of a
washer and a nut. Generally the washer has been placed against the bark
and the nut then holds it in place. A better method of bolting, and one
which insures a neat appearance of the branch in addition to serving as
the most certain safeguard against the entrance of disease, is to
counter-sink the nut in the bark and imbed it in portland cement. The
hole for the sinking of the nut and washer is thickly coated with lead
paint and then with a layer of cement, on which are placed the nut and
washer, both of which are then imbedded in cement. If the outer surface
of the nut be flush with the plane of the bark, within a few years it
will be covered by the growing tissue.
[Illustration: Fig. 169. A weak-bodied young tree well supported;
padding is placed under the bandages.]
[Illustration: Fig. 170. The wrong way of attaching a guy rope.]
[Illustration: Fig. 171. An allowable way of attaching a guy rope.]
[Illustration: Fig. 172. The best way of attaching a guy rope, if a
tree must be used as support.]
“The inner ends of the rods in the two branches may be connected by a
rod or chain. The preference for the chain over the rod attachment is
based on the compressive and tensile stresses which come on the
connection during wind storms. Rod connections are preferred, however,
when rigidity is required, as in unions made close to the crotch; but
for tying two branches together before they have shown signs of
weakening at the fork, the chain may best be used, as the point of
attachment may be placed some distance from the crotch, where the
flexibility factor will be important and the strain comparatively
small. Elms in an advanced stage of maturity, if subjected to severe
climatic conditions, often show this tendency to split. These trees,
especially, should be carefully inspected and means taken to preserve
them, by bolting if necessary.”
[Illustration: Fig. 173. A method of saving valuable trees along
streets on which heavy lowering of grade has been made.]
The illustrations, Figs. 164-173, are self-explanatory, and show poor
practice and good practice in the care of trees.
IX. A rocky bank covered with permanent informal planting. IX. A rocky
bank covered with permanent informal planting.
_The grafting of plants_.
Grafting is the operation of inserting a piece of a plant into another
plant with the intention that it shall grow. It differs from the making
of cuttings in the fact that the severed part grows in another plant
rather than in the soil.
There are two general kinds of grafting—one of which inserts a piece of
branch in the stock (grafting proper), and one which inserts only a bud
with little or no wood attached (budding). In both cases the success of
the operation depends on the growing together of the cambium of the
cion (or cutting) and that of the stock. The cambium is the new and
growing tissue lying underneath the bark and on the outside of the
growing wood. Therefore, the line of demarcation between the bark and
the wood should coincide when the cion and stock are joined.
The plant on which the severed piece is set is called the stock. The
part which is removed and set into the stock is called a cion if it is
a piece of a branch, or a “bud” if it is only a single bud with a bit
of tissue attached.
The greater part of grafting and budding is performed when the cion or
bud is nearly or quite dormant. That is, grafting is usually done late
in winter and early in spring, and budding may be performed then, or
late in summer, when the buds have nearly or quite matured.
[Illustration: Fig. 174. Budding. The “bud”; the opening to receive it;
the bud tied.]
The chief object of grafting is to perpetuate a kind of plant which
will not reproduce itself from seed, or of which seed is very difficult
to obtain. Cions or buds are therefore taken from this plant and set
into whatever kind of plant is obtainable on which they will grow.
Thus, if one wants to propagate the Baldwin apple, he does not for that
purpose sow seeds thereof, but takes cions or buds from a Baldwin tree
and grafts them into some other apple tree. The stocks are usually
obtained from seeds. In the case of the apple, young plants are raised
from seeds which are secured mostly from cider factories, without
reference to the variety from which they came. When the seedlings have
grown to a certain age, they are budded or grafted, the grafted part
making the entire top of the tree; and the top bears fruit like that of
the tree from which the cions were taken.
There are many ways in which the union between cion and stock is made.
Budding may be first discussed. It consists in inserting a bud
underneath the bark of the stock, and the commonest practice is that
which is shown in the illustrations. Budding is mostly performed in
July, August, and early September, when the bark is still loose or in
condition to peel. Twigs are cut from the tree which it is desired to
propagate, and the buds are cut off with a sharp knife, a shield-shaped
bit of bark (with possibly a little wood) being left with them (Fig.
174). The bud is then shoved into a slit made in the stock, and it is
held in place by tying with a soft strand. In two or three weeks the
bud will have “stuck” (that is, it will have grown fast to the stock),
and the strand is cut to prevent its strangling the stock. Ordinarily
the bud does not grow until the following spring, at which time the
entire stock or branch in which the bud is inserted is cut off an inch
above the bud; and the bud thereby receives all the energy of the
stock. Budding is the commonest grafting operation in nurseries. Seeds
of peaches may be sown in spring, and the plants which result will be
ready for budding that same August. The following spring, or a year
from the planting of the seed, the stock is cut off just above the bud
(which is inserted near the ground), and in the fall of that year the
tree is ready for sale; that is, the top is one season old and the root
is two seasons old, but in the trade it is known as a one-year-old
tree. In the South, the peach stock may be budded in June or early July
of the year in which the seed is planted, and the bud grows into a
saleable tree the same year: this is known as June budding. In apples
and pears the stock is usually two years old before it is budded, and
the tree is not sold until the top has grown two or three years.
Budding may be performed also in the spring, in which case the bud will
grow the same season. Budding is always done on young growths,
preferably on those not more than one year old.
[Illustration: Fig. 175. Whip-graft.]
Grafting is the insertion of a small branch (or cion), usually bearing
more than one bud. If grafting is employed on small stocks, it is
customary to employ the whip-graft (Fig. 175). Both stock and cion are
cut across diagonally, and a split made in each, so that one fits into
the other. The graft is tied securely with a string, and then, if it is
above ground, it is also waxed carefully.
[Illustration: Fig. 176. Cleft-graft before waxing.]
In larger limbs or stocks, the common method is to employ the
cleft-graft (Fig. 176). This consists in cutting off the stock,
splitting it, and inserting a wedge-shaped cion in one or both sides of
the split, taking care that the cambium layer of the cion matches that
of the stock. The exposed surfaces are then securely covered with wax.
Grafting is usually performed early in the spring, just before the buds
swell. The cions should have been cut before this time, when they were
perfectly dormant. Cions may be stored in sand in the cellar or in the
ice-house, or they may be buried in the field. The object is to keep
them fresh and dormant until they are wanted.
If it is desired to change the top of an old plum, apple, or pear tree
to some other variety, it is usually accomplished by means of the
cleft-graft. If the tree is very young, budding or whip-grafting may be
employed. On an old top the cions should begin to bear when three to
four years old. All the main limbs should be grafted. It is important
to keep down the suckers or watersprouts from around the grafts, and
part of the remaining top should be cut away each year until the top is
entirely changed over (which will result in two to four years).
A good wax for covering the exposed parts is described in the footnote
on page 145.
_Keeping records of the plantation_.
If one has a large and valuable collection of fruit or ornamental
plants, it is desirable that he have some permanent record of them. The
most satisfactory method is to label the plants, and then to make a
chart or map on which the various plants are indicated in their proper
positions. The labels are always liable to be lost and to become
illegible, and they are often misplaced by careless workmen or
mischievous boys.
[Illustration: Fig. 177. The common stake label.]
For vegetables, annuals, and other temporary plants, the best labels
are simple stakes, like that shown in Fig. 177. Garden stakes a foot
long, an inch wide, and three-eighths inch thick may be bought of label
manufacturers for three to five dollars a thousand. These take a soft
pencil very readily, and if the labels are taken up in the fall and
stored in a dry place, they will last two or three years.
[Illustration: Fig. 178. A good stake label, with the legend covered.]
For more permanent herbaceous plants, as rhubarb and asparagus, or even
for bushes, a stake that is sawed from clear pine or cypress, eighteen
inches long, three inches wide, and an inch or more thick, affords a
most excellent label. The lower end of the stake is sawed to a point,
and is dipped in coal tar or creosote, or other preservative. The top
of the stake is painted white, and the legend is written with a large
and soft pencil. When the writing becomes illegible or the stake is
needed for other plants, a shaving is taken off the face of the label
with a plane, a fresh coat of paint added, and the label is as good as
ever. These labels are strong enough to withstand shocks from
whiffletrees and tools, and should last ten years.
Whenever a legend is written with a lead pencil, it is advisable to use
the pencil when the paint (which should be white lead) is still fresh
or soft. Figure 178 shows a very good device for preserving the writing
on the face of the label. A block of wood is secured to the label by
means of a screw, covering the legend completely and protecting it from
the weather.
If more ornamental stake labels are desired, various types can be
bought in the market, or one can be made after the fashion of Fig. 179.
This is a zinc plate that can be painted black, on which the name is
written with white paint. Many persons, however, prefer to paint the
zinc white, and write or stamp the label with black ink or black type.
Two strong wire legs are soldered to the label, and these prevent it
from turning around. These labels are, of course, much more expensive
than the ordinary stake labels, and are usually not so satisfactory,
although more attractive.
[Illustration: Fig. 179. Metal stake label.]
[Illustration: Fig. 180. Zinc tallies.]
[Illustration: Fig. 181. Common zinc tally.]
For labeling trees, various kinds of zinc tallies are in common use, as
shown in Figs. 180 and 181. Fresh zinc takes a lead pencil readily, and
the writing often becomes more legible as it becomes older, and it will
usually remain three or four years. These labels are attached either by
wires, as _a, b_, Fig. 180, or they are wound about the limb as shown
in _c, d_, and _e_, in Fig. 180. The type of zinc label most in use is
a simple strip of zinc, as shown in Fig. 181, wrapped about the limb.
The metal is so flexible that it expands readily with the growth of the
branch. While these zinc labels are durable, they are very
inconspicuous because of their neutral color, and it is often difficult
to find them in dense masses of foliage.
The common wooden label of the nurserymen (Fig. 182) is perhaps as
useful as any for general purposes. If the label has had a light coat
of thin white lead, and the legend has been made with a soft lead
pencil, the writing should remain legible four or five years. Fig. 183
shows another type of label that is more durable, since the wire is
stiff and large, and is secured around the limb by means of pincers.
The large loop allows the limb to expand, and the stiff wire prevents
the misplacing of the label by winds and workmen. The tally itself is
what is known as the “package label” of the nurserymen, being six
inches long, one and one-fourth inches wide, and costing (painted) less
than one and one-half dollars a thousand. The legend is made with a
lead pencil when the paint is fresh, and sometimes the label is dipped
in thin white lead after the writing is made, so that the paint covers
the writing with a very thin protecting coat. A similar label is shown
in Fig. 184., which has a large wire loop, with a coil, to allow the
expansion of the limb. The tallies of this type are often made of
glass, or porcelain with the name indelibly printed in them. Figure
185. shows a zinc tally, which is secured to the tree by means of a
sharp and pointed wire driven into the wood. Some prefer to have two
arms to this wire, driving one point on either side of the tree. If
galvanized wire is used, these labels will last for many years.
[Illustration: Fig. 182. A common nursery label.]
[Illustration: Fig. 183. Cornell tree label.]
[Illustration: Fig. 184. Serviceable large-loop tree label.]
[Illustration: Fig. 185. Zinc tree label.]
[Illustration: Fig. 186. Injury by a tight label wire.]
It is very important, when adjusting labels to trees, to be sure that
the wire is not twisted tight against the wood. Figure 186 shows the
injury that is likely to result from label wires. When a tree is
constricted or girdled, it is very liable to be broken off by winds. It
should be a rule to attach the label to a limb of minor importance, so
that if the wire should injure the part, the loss will not be serious.
When the label, Fig. 182, is applied, only the tips of the wire should
be twisted together, leaving a large loop for the expansion of the
limb.
_The storing of fruits and vegetables_.
[Illustration: Fig. 187. The old-fashioned “outdoor cellar,” still a
very useful and convenient storage place.]
The principles involved in the storing of perishable products, as
fruits and vegetables, differ with the different commodities. All the
root-crops, and most fruits, need to be kept in a cool, moist, and
uniform temperature if they are to be preserved a great length of time.
Squashes, sweet-potatoes, and some other things need to be kept in an
intermediate and what might be called a high temperature; and the
atmosphere should be drier than for most other products. The low
temperature has the effect of arresting decomposition and the work of
fungi and bacteria. The moist atmosphere has the effect of preventing
too great evaporation and the consequent shriveling.
In the storing of any commodity, it is very important that the product
is in proper condition for keeping. Discard all specimens that are
bruised or are likely to decay. Much of the decay of fruits and
vegetables in storage is not the fault of the storage process, but is
really the work of diseases with which the materials are infected
before they are put into storage. For example, if potatoes and cabbages
are affected with the rot, it is practically impossible to keep them
any length of time.
[Illustration: Fig. 188. Lean-to fruit cellar, covered with earth. The
roof should be of cement or stone slabs. Provide a ventilator.]
Apples, winter pears, and all roots, should be kept at a temperature
somewhat near the freezing point. It should not rise above 40° F. for
best results. Apples can be kept even at one or two degrees below the
freezing point if the temperature is uniform. Cellars in which there
are heaters are likely to be too dry and the temperature too high. In
such places it is well to keep fresh vegetables and fruits in tight
receptacles, and pack the roots in sand or moss in order to prevent
shriveling. In these places, apples usually keep better if headed up in
barrels than if kept on racks or shelves. In moist and cool cellars,
however, it is preferable for the home supply to place them on shelves,
not piling them more than five or six inches deep, for then they can be
sorted over as occasion requires. In case of fruits, be sure that the
specimens are not over-ripe when placed in storage. If apples are
allowed to lie in the sun for a few days before being packed, they will
ripen so much that it is very difficult to keep them.
Cabbages should be kept at a low and uniform temperature, and water
should be drained away from them. They are stored in many ways in the
field, but success depends so much on the season, particular variety,
ripeness, and the freedom from injuries by fungi and insects, that
uniform results are rarely secured by any one method. The best results
are to be expected when they can be kept in a house built for the
purpose, in which the temperature is uniform and the air fairly moist.
When stored out of doors, they are likely to freeze and thaw
alternately; and if the water runs into the heads, mischief results.
Sometimes they are easily stored by being piled into a conical heap on
well-drained soil and covered with dry straw, and the straw covered
with boards. It does not matter if they are frosted, provided they do
not thaw out frequently. Sometimes cabbages are laid head down in a
shallow furrow plowed in well-drained land, and over them is thrown
straw, the stumps being allowed to project through the cover. It is
only in winters of rather uniform temperature that good results are to
be expected from such methods. These are some of the main
considerations involved in the storing of such things as cabbage; the
subject is mentioned again in the discussion of cabbage in Chapter X.
[Illustration: Fig. 189. A fruit storage house cooled by ice.]
In the storing of all products, especially those which have soft and
green matter, as cabbages, it is well to provide against the heating of
the produce. If the things are buried out of doors, it is important to
put on a very light cover at first so that the heat may escape. Cover
them gradually as the cold weather comes on. This is important with all
vegetables that are placed in pits, as potatoes, beets, and the like.
If covered deeply at once, they are likely to heat and rot. All pits
made out of doors should be on well-drained and preferably sandy land.
When vegetables are wanted at intervals during the winter from pits, it
is well to make compartment pits, each compartment holding a wagon load
or whatever quantity will be likely to be wanted at each time. These
pits are sunk in well-drained land, and between each of the two pits is
left a wall of earth about a foot thick. One pit can then be emptied in
cold weather without interfering with the others.
An outside cellar is better than a house cellar in which there is a
heater, but it is not so handy. If it is near the house, it need not be
inconvenient, however. A house is usually healthier if the cellar is
not used for storage. House cellars used for storage should have a
ventilating shaft.
Some of the principles involved in an ice-cooled storage house are
explained in the diagram, Fig. 189. If the reader desires to make a
careful study of storage and storage structures, he should consult
cyclopedias and special articles.
_The forcing of plants_.
There are three general means (aside from greenhouses) of forcing
plants ahead of their season in the early spring—by means of
forcing-hills and hand-boxes, by coldframes, and by hotbeds.
The forcing-hill is an arrangement by means of which a single plant or
a single “hill” of plants may be forced where it permanently stands.
This type of forcing may be applied to perennial plants, as rhubarb and
asparagus, or to annuals, as melons and cucumbers.
[Illustration: Fig. 190. Forcing-hill for rhubarb.]
In Fig. 190 is illustrated a common method of hastening the growth of
rhubarb in the spring. A box with four removable sides, two of which
are shown in end section in the figure, is placed around the plant in
the fall. The inside of the box is filled with straw or litter, and the
outside is banked thoroughly with any refuse, to prevent the ground
from freezing. When it is desired to start the plants, the covering is
removed from both the inside and outside of the box and hot manure is
piled around the box to its top.
If the weather is yet cold, dry light leaves or straw may be placed
inside the box; or a pane or sash of glass may be placed on top of the
box, when it will become a coldframe. Rhubarb, asparagus, sea-kale, and
similar plants may be advanced two or four weeks by means of this
method of forcing. Some gardeners use old barrels or half-barrels in
place of the box. The box, however, is better and handier, and the
sides can be stored for future use.
[Illustration: Fig. 191. Forcing-hill, and the mold or frame for making
it.]
Plants that require a long season in which to mature, and which do not
transplant readily, as melons and cucumbers, may be planted in
forcing-hills in the field. One of these hills is shown in Fig. 191.
The frame or mold is shown at the left. This mold is a box with flaring
sides and no top or bottom, and provided with a handle. This frame is
placed with the small end down at the point where the seeds are to be
planted, and the earth is hilled up about it and firmly packed with the
feet. The mold is then withdrawn, and a pane of glass is laid upon the
top of the mound to concentrate the sun’s rays, and to prevent the bank
from washing down with the rains. A clod of earth or a stone may be
placed upon the pane to hold it down. Sometimes a brick is used as a
mold. This type of forcing-hill is not much used, because the bank of
earth is liable to be washed away, and heavy rain coming when the glass
is off will fill the hill with water and drown the plant. However, it
can be used to very good advantage when the gardener can give it close
attention.
[Illustration: Fig. 192. Hand-box.]
A forcing-hill is sometimes made by digging a hole in the ground and
planting the seeds in the bottom of it, placing the pane of glass upon
a slight ridge or mound which is made on the surface of the ground.
This method is less desirable than the other, because the seeds are
placed in the poorest and coldest soil, and the hole is very likely to
fill with water in the early days of spring.
An excellent type of forcing-hill is made by the use of the hand-box,
as shown in Fig. 192. This is a rectangular box, without top or bottom,
and a pane of glass is slipped into a groove at the top. It is really a
miniature coldframe. The earth is banked up slightly about the box, in
order to hold it against winds and to prevent the water from running
into it. If these boxes are made of good lumber and painted, they will
last for many years. Any size of glass may be used which is desired,
but a ten-by-twelve pane is as good as any for general purposes.
After the plants are thoroughly established in these forcing-hills, and
the weather is settled, the protection is wholly removed, and the
plants grow normally in the open.
[Illustration: Fig. 193. Glass forcing-hill.]
A very good temporary protection may be given to tender plants by using
four panes of glass, as explained in Fig. 193, the two inner panes
being held together at the top by a block of wood through which four
nails are driven. Plants are more likely to burn in these glass frames
than in the hand-boxes, and such frames are not so well adapted to the
protection of plants in very early spring; but they are often useful
for special purposes.
In all forcing-hills, as in coldframes and hotbeds, it is exceedingly
important that the plants receive plenty of air on bright days. Plants
that are kept too close become weak or “drawn”, and lose the ability to
withstand changes of weather when the protection is removed. Even
though the wind is cold and raw, the plants inside the frames
ordinarily will not suffer if the glass is taken off when the sun is
shining.
Coldframes.
A coldframe is nothing more than an enlarged hand-box; that is, instead
of protecting but a single plant or a single hill with a single pane of
glass, the frame is covered with sash, and is large enough to
accommodate many plants.
There are three general purposes for which a coldframe is used: For the
starting of plants early in spring; for receiving partially hardened
plants that have been started earlier in hotbeds and forcing-houses;
for wintering young cabbages, lettuce, and other hardy plants that are
sown in the fall.
[Illustration: Fig. 194. Coldframe against a building. Plants at E;
sill of house at A; basement opening at B.]
Coldframes are ordinarily placed near the buildings, and the plants are
transplanted into the field when settled weather comes. Sometimes,
however, they are made directly in the field where the plants are to
remain, and the frames, and not the plants, are removed. When used for
this latter purpose, the frames are made very cheap by running two rows
of parallel planks through the field at a distance apart of six feet.
The plank on the north is ordinarily ten to twelve inches wide, and
that on the south eight to ten inches. These planks are held in place
by stakes, and the sashes are laid across them. Seeds of radishes,
beets, lettuce, and the like, are then sown beneath the sash, and when
settled weather arrives, the sash and planks are removed and the plants
are growing naturally in the field. Half-hardy plants, as those
mentioned, may be started fully two or three weeks in advance of the
normal season by this means.
[Illustration: Fig. 195. Weather screen, or coldframe, against a
building.]
One of the simplest types of coldframes is shown in Fig. 194, which is
a lean-to against the foundation of a house. A sill is run just above
the surface of the ground, and the sashes, shown at D, are laid on
rafters which run from this sill to the sill of the house, A. If this
frame is on the south side of the building, plants may be started even
as early as a month before the opening of the season. Such lean-to
frames are sometimes made against greenhouses or warm cellars, and heat
is supplied to them by the opening of a door in the wall, as at B. In
frames that are in such sunny positions as these, it is exceedingly
important that care be taken to remove the sash, or at least to give
ample ventilation, in all sunny days.
A different type of lean-to structure is shown in Fig. 195. This may be
either a temporary or permanent building, and it is generally used for
the protection of half-hardy plants that are grown in pots and tubs. It
may be used, however, for the purpose of forwarding pot-plants early in
the spring and for protection of peaches, grapes, oranges, or other
fruits in tubs or boxes. If it is desired merely to protect the plants
through the winter, it is best to have the structure on the north side
of the building, in order that the sun may not force the plants into
activity.
[Illustration: Fig. 196. A pit or coldframe on permanent walls, and a
useful adjunct to a garden. The rear cover is open (_a_).]
[Illustration: Fig. 197. The usual form of coldframe.]
[Illustration: Fig. 198. A strong and durable frame.]
Another structure that may be used both to carry half-hardy plants over
winter and for starting plants early in spring is shown in Fig. 196. It
is really a miniature greenhouse without heat. It is well adapted for
mild climates. The picture was made from a structure in the coast
region of North Carolina.
The common type of coldframe is shown in Fig. 197. It is twelve feet
long and six feet wide, and is covered with four three-by-six sash. It
is made of ordinary lumber loosely nailed together. If one expects to
use coldframes or hotbeds every year, however, it is advisable to make
the frames of two-inch stuff, well painted, and to join the parts by
bolts and tenons, so that they may be taken apart and stored until
needed for the next year’s crop. Figure 198 suggests a method of making
frames so that they may be taken apart.
[Illustration: Fig. 199. A frame yard.]
[Illustration: Fig. 200. Portable coldframe.]
[Illustration: Fig. 201. A larger portable coldframe.]
[Illustration: Fig. 202. A commodious portable frame.]
It is always advisable to place coldframes and hotbeds in a protected
place, and particularly to protect them from cold north winds.
Buildings afford excellent protection, but the sun is sometimes too hot
on the south side of large and light-colored buildings. One of the best
means of protection is to plant a hedge of evergreens, as shown in Fig.
199. It is always desirable, also to place all the coldframes and
hotbeds close together, for the purpose of economizing time and labor.
A regular area or yard may be set aside for this purpose.
[Illustration: Fig. 203. A low coldframe.]
Various small and portable coldframes may be used about the garden for
the protection of tender plants or to start them early in the spring.
Pansies, daisies, and border carnations, for example, may be brought on
very early by setting such frames over them or by planting them under
the frames in the fall. These frames may be of any size desired, and
the sash may be either removable, or, in case of small frames, they may
be hinged at the top. Figs. 200-203 illustrate various types.
Hotbeds.
A hotbed differs from a coldframe in being provided with bottom heat.
This heat is ordinarily supplied by means of fermenting manure, but it
may be obtained from other fermenting material, as tanbark or leaves,
or from artificial heat, as flues, steam pipes, or water pipes.
The hotbed is used for the very early starting of plants; and when the
plants have outgrown the bed, or have become too thick, they are
transplanted into cooler hotbeds or into coldframes. There are some
crops, however, that are carried to full maturity in the hotbed itself,
as radishes and lettuce.
The date at which the hotbed may be started with safety depends almost
entirely on the means at command of heating it and on the skill of the
operator. In the northern states, where outdoor gardening does not
begin until the first or the last of May, hotbeds are sometimes started
as early as January; but they are ordinarily delayed until early in
March.
The heat for hotbeds is commonly supplied by the fermentation of horse
manure. It is important that the manure be as uniform as possible in
composition and texture, that it come from highly fed horses, and is
practically of the same age. The best results are usually secured with
manure from livery stables, from which it can be obtained in large
quantities in a short space of time. Perhaps as much as one half of the
whole material should be of litter or straw that has been used in the
bedding.
[Illustration: Fig. 204. Hotbed with manure on top of the ground.]
The manure is placed in a long and shallow square-topped pile, not more
than four or six feet high, as a rule, and is then allowed to ferment.
Better results are generally obtained if the manure is piled under
cover. If the weather is cold and fermentation does not start readily,
wetting the pile with hot water may start it. The first fermentation is
nearly always irregular; that is, it begins unequally in several places
in the pile. In order to make the fermentation uniform, the pile must
be turned occasionally, taking care to break up all hard lumps and to
distribute the hot manure throughout the mass. It is sometimes
necessary to turn the pile five or six times before it is finally used,
although half this number of turnings is ordinarily sufficient. When
the pile is steaming uniformly throughout, it is placed in the hotbed,
and is covered with the earth in which the plants are to be grown.
Hotbed frames are sometimes set on top of the pile of fermenting
manure, as shown in Fig. 204. The manure should extend some distance
beyond the edges of the frame; otherwise the frame will become too cold
about the outside, and the plants will suffer.
[Illustration: Fig. 205. Section of a hotbed built with a pit.]
It is preferable, however, to have a pit beneath the frame in which the
manure is placed. If the bed is to be started in midwinter or very
early in the spring, it is advisable to make this pit in the fall and
to fill it with straw or other litter to prevent the earth from
freezing deep. When it is time to make the bed, the litter is thrown
out, and the ground is warm and ready to receive the fermenting manure.
The pit should be a foot wider on either side than the width of the
frame. Fig. 205 is a cross-section of such a hotbed pit. Upon the
ground a layer of an inch or two of any coarse material is placed to
keep the manure off the cold earth. Upon this, from twelve to thirty
inches of manure is placed. Above the manure is a thin layer of
leafmold or some porous material, that will serve as a distributor of
the heat, and above this is four or five inches of soft garden loam, in
which the plants are to be grown.
It is advisable to place the manure in the pit in layers, each stratum
to be thoroughly trodden down before another one is put in. These
layers should be four to eight inches in thickness. By this means the
mass is easily made uniform in consistency. Manure that has too much
straw for the best results, and which will therefore soon part with its
heat, will spring up quickly when the pressure of the feet is removed.
Manure that has too little straw, and which therefore will not heat
well or will spend its heat quickly, will pack down into a soggy mass
underneath the feet. When the manure has sufficient litter, it will
give a springy feeling to the feet as a person walks over it, but will
not fluff up when the pressure is removed. The quantity of manure to be
used will depend on its quality, and also on the season in which the
hotbed is made. The earlier the bed is made, the larger should be the
quantity of manure. Hotbeds that are intended to hold for two months
should have about two feet of manure, as a rule.
The manure will ordinarily heat very vigorously for a few days after it
is placed in the bed. A soil thermometer should be thrust through the
earth down to the manure, and the frame kept tightly closed. When the
temperature is passing below 90°, seeds of the warm plants, like
tomatoes, may be sown, and when it passes below 80° or 70°, the seeds
of cooler plants may be sown.
[Illustration: Fig. 206 Parallel runs of hotbeds with racks for holding
sashes.]
If hotbeds are to be used every year, permanent pits should be provided
for them. Pits are made from two to three feet deep, preferably the
former depth, and are walled up with stone or brick. It is important
that they be given good drainage from below. In the summer-time, after
the sash are stripped, the old beds may be used for the growing of
various delicate crops, as melons or half-hardy flowers. In this
position, the plants can be protected in the fall. As already
suggested, the pits should be cleaned out in the fall and filled with
litter to facilitate the work of making the new bed in the winter or
spring.
[Illustration: Fig. 207. Manure-heated greenhouse.]
Various modifications of the common type of hotbed will suggest
themselves to the operator. The frames should ordinarily run in
parallel rows, so that a man walking between them can attend to the
ventilation of two rows of sash at once. Fig. 206 shows a different
arrangement. There are two parallel runs, with walks on the outside,
and between them are racks to receive the sash from the adjacent
frames. The sash from the left-hand bed are run to the right, and those
from the right-hand bed are run to the left. Running on racks, the
operator does not need to handle them, and the breakage of glass is
therefore less; but this system is little used because of the
difficulty of reaching the farther side of the bed from the single
walk.
If the hotbed were high enough and broad enough to allow a man to work
inside, we should have a forcing-house. Such a structure is shown in
Fig. 207, upon one side of which the manure and soil are already in
place. These manure-heated houses are often very efficient, and are a
good make-shift until such time as the gardener can afford to put in
flue or pipe heat.
Hotbeds may be heated by means of steam or hot water. They can be piped
from the heater in a dwelling-house or greenhouse. Fig. 208 shows a
hotbed with two pipes, in the positions 7, 7 beneath the bed. The earth
is shown at 4, and the plants (which, in this case, are vines) are
growing upon a rack, at 6. There are doors in the end of the house,
shown in 2, 2, which may be used for ventilation or for admitting air
underneath the beds. The pipes should not be surrounded by earth, but
should run through a free air space.
[Illustration: Fig. 208. Pipe-heated hotbed.]
It would scarcely pay to put in a hot water or steam heater for the
express purpose of heating hotbeds, for if such an expense were
incurred, it would be better to make a forcing-house. Hotbeds may be
heated, however, with hot-air flues with very good results. A home-made
brick furnace may be constructed in a pit at one end of the run and
underneath a shed, and the smoke and hot air, instead of being carried
directly upwards, is carried through a slightly rising horizontal pipe
that runs underneath the beds. For some distance from the furnace, this
flue may be made of brick or unvitrified sewer pipe, but stove-pipe may
be used for the greater part of the run. The chimney is ordinarily at
the farther end of the run of beds. It should be high, in order to
provide a good draft. If the run of beds is long, there should be a
rise in the underlying pipe of at least one foot in twenty-five. The
greater the rise in this pipe, the more perfect will be the draft. If
the runs are not too long, the underlying pipe may return underneath
the beds and enter a chimney directly over the back end of the furnace,
and such a chimney, being warmed from the furnace, will ordinarily have
an excellent draft. The underlying pipe should occupy a free space or
pit beneath the beds, and whenever it lies near to the floor of the bed
or is very hot, it should be covered with asbestos cloth. While such
flue-heated hotbeds may be eminently successful with a grower or
builder of experience, it may nevertheless be said, as a general
statement, that whenever such trouble and expense are incurred, it is
better to make a forcing-house. The subject of forcing-houses and
greenhouses is not discussed in this book.
[Illustration: Fig. 209. Useful kinds of watering-pots. These are
adapted to different uses, as are different forms of hoes or pruning
tools.]
The most satisfactory material for use in hotbed and cold-frame sash is
double-thick, second-quality glass; and panes twelve inches wide are
ordinarily broad enough, and they suffer comparatively little in
breakage. For coldframes, however, various oiled papers and waterproof
cloths may be used, particularly for plants that are started little in
advance of the opening of the season. When these materials are used, it
is not necessary to have expensive sash, but rectangular frames are
made from strips of pine seven-eighths inch thick and two and one-half
inches wide, halved together at the corners and each corner reënforced
by a square carriage-corner, such as is used by carriage-makers to
secure the corners of buggy boxes. These corners can be bought by the
pound at hardware stores.
Management of hotbeds.
Close attention is required in the management of hotbeds, to insure
that they do not become too hot when the sun comes out suddenly, and to
give plenty of fresh air.
Ventilation is usually effected by raising the sash at the upper end
and letting it rest upon a block. Whenever the temperature is above
freezing point, it is generally advisable to take the sash off part
way, as shown in the central part of Fig. 199, or even to strip it off
entirely, as shown in Fig. 197.
Care should be taken not to water the plants at nightfall, especially
in dull and cold weather, but to give them water in the morning, when
the sun will soon bring the temperature up to its normal state. Skill
and judgment in watering are of the greatest importance in the
management of hotbeds; but this skill comes only from thoughtful
practice. The satisfaction and effectiveness of the work are greatly
increased by good hose connections and good watering-pots (Fig. 209).
Some protection, other than the glass, must be given to hotbeds. They
need covering on every cold night, and sometimes during the entire day
in very severe weather. Very good material for covering the sash is
matting, such as is used for covering floors. Old pieces of carpet may
also be used. Various hotbed mattings are sold by dealers in gardeners’
supplies.
[Illustration: Fig. 210. The making of straw mats.]
Gardeners often make mats of rye straw, although the price of good
straw and the excellence of manufactured materials make this home-made
matting less desirable than formerly. Such mats are thick and durable,
and are rolled up in the morning, as shown in Fig. 199. There are
various methods of making these straw mats, but Fig. 210 illustrates
one of the best. A frame is made after the manner of a saw-horse, with
a double top, and tarred or marline twine is used for securing the
strands of straw. It is customary to use six runs of this warp. Twelve
spools of string are provided, six hanging on either side. Some persons
wind the cord upon two twenty-penny nails, as shown in the figure,
these nails being held together at one end by wire which is secured in
notches filed into them. The other ends of the spikes are free, and
allow the string to be caught between them, thus preventing the balls
from unwinding as they hang upon the frame. Two wisps of straight rye
straw are secured and laid upon the frame, with the butt ends outward
and the heads overlapping. Two opposite spools are then brought up, and
a hard knot is tied at each point. The projecting butts of the straw
are then cut off with a hatchet, and the mat is allowed to drop through
to receive the next pair of wisps. In making these mats, it is
essential that the rye contains no ripe grain; otherwise it attracts
the mice. It is best to grow rye for this especial purpose, and to cut
it before the grain is in the milk, so that the straw does not need to
be threshed.
In addition to these coverings of straw or matting, it is sometimes
necessary to provide board shutters to protect the beds, particularly
if the plants are started very early in the season. These shutters are
made of half-inch or five-eighths-inch pine lumber, and are the same
size as the sash—three by six feet. They may be placed upon the sash
underneath the matting, or they may be used above the matting. In some
cases they are used without any matting.
In the growing of plants in hotbeds, every effort should be made to
prevent the plants from growing spindling, or becoming “drawn.” To make
stocky plants, it is necessary to give room to each plant, to be sure
that the distance from the plants to the glass is not great, to provide
not too much water in dull and cold weather, and particularly to give
abundance of air.